Why Americans Drink More Wine Than Any Other Country

While Europe may be better-known for its love of wine, the U.S. is no slouch in the wine department either, with literally thousands of wineries. Americans make and drink a lot of the world’s wine. Read on for 17 things you didn't know about America’s wine industry.

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In 1769, Franciscan missionary Father Junipero Serra planted the Mission grape variety at Mission San Diego de Alcala. Gladys Horiuchi, director of media relations at the Wine Institute explains, "This first planting was done to create wines for the church and soon spread to other missions across California."

Every state in the U.S. has a winery. Yes, even Hawaii and Alaska. In 2017, the U.S. made 900 million gallons of wine — 12% of the world's wine production, according to the National Association of American Wineries.

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The National Association of American Wineries reports that in 2018, the world consumed 6.5 billion gallons of wine. Of that, the U.S. drank the most — 872 million gallons. We have been the world's leading consumer of wine since 2011, in fact.

If you’re a wine drinker, you probably can guess that either chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon is the leading grape produced in the U.S. Which do you think it is?

Whichever you guessed, you are correct! According to The Wine Economist, sells the best by volume, but because bottles of cabernet sauvignon generally fetch a slightly higher price, the net dollar sales for cabernet sauvignon are slightly higher.

It's probably no surprise that California makes the most wine in the U.S. — about 80% of it. The Wine Institute reports that 85% of the wine in California is produced in a certified sustainable winery. The next leading states, in order of production, are Washington, New York, Oregon, and Texas.

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With all the wine produced in California, you may think the whole state is basically covered in vineyards. In fact, according to Horiuchi, "California acreage planted to wine grapes was 637,000 in 2018, less than 1% of the state's terrain."

With so much affordable and delicious wine available, it may feel like making wine is a breeze. Not so. Horiuchi elaborates, "It takes about six to eight clusters of wine grapes to make a bottle of wine."

Thanks to the seasonal nature of winemaking, it’s hard to estimate the exact number of people involved, as a lot of the people involved are part-time seasonal workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, though, that there were more than 64,000 people employed by wineries in 2017, which is 153% more than there were in 2001.

California wine is iconic for a reason, but there are some up and comers on the American winemaking scene. Some spots to watch: Virginia, Arizona, Michigan, and the Finger Lakes and Long Island in New York.

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When it comes to total wine consumed, according to the National Association of American Wineries, California is easily in the lead, followed by Florida and New York. Wine consumption per capita, though, is a bit more surprising. According to the National Institutes of Health, Idaho is in the lead with 1.19 gallons; followed by Washington, D.C., with 1.03; and New Hampshire with 0.88.

The National Association of American Wineries reports that U.S. wine exports reached $1.46 billion in value in 2018. Some 95% of that exported wine came from California.

In the U.S., we have what are called American Viticultural Areas or "AVAs," which are official winegrowing regions. There are currently 246 AVAs in 33 states, including the most recently recognized Eastern Connecticut Highlands AVA.

Of course, we don't just drink American wine in America — we're too well-rounded for that. According to Statista, the top three countries we import from by dollars spent, in order, are France ($1.4 billion), Italy ($1.2 billion), and New Zealand ($436 million) in 2018.

Listen, we like wine, okay? According to Wine Vine Analytics, American consumers spent $14.4 billion on wine between March 2018 and March 2019, including "grocery, drug, mass merchandisers, convenience, dollar, military, as well as a selection of warehouse clubs, and liquor channel geographies and liquor channel retail chains."

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According to Wine Analytics Report, the American wine industry grew to more than $70 billion in 2018, with 408 million cases in total volume. While sales growth has technically slowed, the total market has doubled since 2003, with consumers buying wine at higher price points than before.

You'd maybe think that California would be the state most into cabernet sauvignon. You'd be wrong. According to Wine Searcher, Hawaii is the state craziest for cab — it accounts for 20.6% of its internet searches about wine, the highest proportion in the country.

Most of the grapes used for wine are with the species Vitis vinifera, which originally came from the ancient Caucasus region. But, America has its own native grapes, too. If you've ever had concord grape jelly, you've tried them! Meet the species Vitis labrusca. There are some "hybrid" grapes from labrusca being used to make wine in states with colder climates.

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